The present invention relates to a wrapping method, particularly for edible products such as chocolates and the like.
In particular, the present invention relates to a method by which to fashion individual packagings around products, each consisting in a wrapper that comprises a sheet of wrapping material enveloping the product, and a length of narrow ribbon offered to a face of the sheet of material destined to come into contact with the product, in such a way that on completion of the wrapping operation the ribbon is placed internally of the wrapper and in contact with the product.
The ribbon presents an end portion that emerges from the wrapper and can serve as a tab on which to print images and/or text, for example the brand or other indications relating to the packaged product.
This type of wrapping can be used advantageously, in particular, for products exhibiting an irregular and relatively complex geometry.
Indeed if images and/or text were to be printed directly on the outer face of the wrapper in such instances, they would be difficult to decipher and might even be hidden completely between the folds of the sheet when gathered around the product.
A typical example of such wrappings is that used to envelop chocolates of essentially hemispherical shape, where the ribbon is applied to the sheet in such a way that one end emerges from the wrapper at a substantially central area of the hemispherical surface presented by the chocolate.
The conventional wrapping method involves feeding a succession of single wrapping sheets toward an assembling station at which each single sheet is brought to a standstill for a short period of time, sufficient for a ribbon of predetermined length to be placed on the sheet.
The single wrapping sheets are then conveyed in succession together with the respective lengths of ribbon to wrapping means of conventional type by which the sheet and ribbon are folded around the chocolate to fashion the finished wrap.
Such a method dictates a relatively low operating speed, due mainly to the fact that the movement of the wrapping sheets has to be interrupted, albeit briefly, so that the length of ribbon can be placed on each successive sheet.
Moreover, it has been verified through experiment that the method in question will produce a certain percentage of defective wrappers, and therefore of rejects, when the initial position of the ribbon on the sheet is not maintained during the passage of the two elements toward the wrapping means and the ribbon arrives displaced in relation to the sheet from the position originally intended.
This means that in some cases, at the end of the packaging operation, the end portion of the ribbon fails even to emerge from the wrapper and the brand or text cannot be seen. Another problem is that the ribbon may emerge from the wrapper at a point other than intended, for example at the periphery rather than at the crown of the hemispherical surface. Or again, it can happen that the portion of the ribbon that emerges from the wrapper is not of the length originally intended.
The object of the present invention is to provide a wrapping method unaffected by the aforementioned drawbacks, such as will enable operation at speeds decidedly higher than those allowed by conventional wrapping methods outlined above, and with a notably reduced percentage of rejects in production.
The stated object is duly realized in a wrapping method according to the invention, in particular for chocolates and the like, which includes the steps of advancing wrapping sheets in an ordered succession along a first path and in a first direction, spaced apart at a predetermined and constant pitch in such a way that the trailing edge of one wrapping sheet and the leading edge of the successive sheet are separated by a predetermined distance; causing a continuous ribbon of minimal transverse dimensions, compared with the transverse dimensions of the wrapping sheet, to advance in a second direction and along a second path merging with the first path at an assembling station; associating and stably uniting the ribbon with the wrapping sheets and advancing the ribbon as one with the single sheets in a third direction; cutting the continuous ribbon transversely at a point between the trailing edge of one wrapping sheet and the leading edge of a successive sheet advancing in the third direction so as to generate discrete slivers of ribbon, and in such a manner that a portion of each sliver projects from the trailing edge of the respective sheet; directing the wrapping sheets in ordered succession, each associated with a relative sliver of ribbon, toward wrapping means; and directing an ordered succession of products for wrapping toward the wrapping means, synchronously with the wrapping sheets.
The present invention also relates to a finished wrap, in particular for edible products such as chocolates and the like.
A finished wrap for an edible product according to the invention comprises a wrapper fashioned from a wrapping sheet folded in such a way as to envelop the product, and a sliver of ribbon presenting minimal transverse dimensions compared with the transverse dimensions of the wrapping sheet; in the wrap disclosed, the sliver of ribbon is united stably to the face of the wrapping sheet destined to make contact with the product and presents at least one end portion projecting from the finished wrap.